Day 9 - Sept. 13. I'm a little worried about the Malvasia. The fermentation seems to be finished faster than expected and I feel that I need to rack the wine to get it off the sediment.
One of the big dangers in the early stages of making wine is having hydrogen sulfide {H2S} form in the wine..e.g. rotten egg smell.
One reason for H2S to form is the breakdown of the yeast after the fermentation has finished.
Another reason for H2S is presence of elemental sulfur in the wine. e.g. Elemental sulfur used in the vineyard too close to harvest time.
See these articles for more info...
http://www.ajevonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/3/1%2037
http://www.etslabs.com/display.aspx?catid=48,50,66&pageid=94
One protection against H2S is to rack the wine off the sediment {lees} as soon as possible after fermentation....so I was anxious to rack the wine....
It turned out I had good reason to be worried as I noticed a trace of H2S in 2 of my 3 carboys of Malvasia when racking the wine.
At this point in the process, a little aeration of the wine blows off the H2S. So hopefully all will be well. I'll check the wine again in a couple of days....
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